“This same person has absolutely no prejudice towards any human being on account of race, color or creed”

Affirming human equality despite the racial prejudice he himself endured · Foreword to Plea of the Negro Soldier and a Hundred Other Poems, 1908

• Compassion
• Humanity
• Justice

“If you had been deprived of an education in your early youth; if then you had run away from home to obtain that education”

Recalling his determined pursuit of education despite poverty and disadvantage · Foreword to Plea of the Negro Soldier and a Hundred Other Poems, 1908

• Education
• Perseverance
• Struggle

“If you had lived upon scant means, compelled to support yourself, often being physically hungry in an endeavor to satisfy your mental hunger for knowledge”

Contrasting physical deprivation with an intense hunger for learning · Foreword to Plea of the Negro Soldier and a Hundred Other Poems, 1908

• Education
• Knowledge
• Perseverance